


Potential

by raktajinos



Series: Lydia Martin, Vampire Slayer [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire Slayer, Background Poly, Bisexuality, Crossover, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, Gen, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Lesbian Undertones, Lydia flirts with everyone, Multi, POV Female Character, background canon Buffy/Angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 05:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4510206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raktajinos/pseuds/raktajinos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's four things Lydia has learned in the last four hours; 1) she's part of some ancient bloodline of women called Slayers, b) she's going to be trained to be a badass, c) there are vampires & other demons in the world, and d) apparently everyone on this team is sexy as fuck. None of these things are a problem for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Potential

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadySilver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/gifts).
  * Inspired by [One Girl None the Better](https://archiveofourown.org/works/475363) by [LadySilver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/pseuds/LadySilver). 



> A sequel to ladysilver's 'One Girl None the Better' as part of a remix challenge. Loosely set in a generic season 7 of Buffy and a rough season 3/4 of Teen Wolf (I'm working off Lydia being at least 18, but ignoring canon).

Lydia closed her eyes and let her head fall back, resting against the white leather of the seat. She enjoyed the feel of the wind brushing across her face; it was fall, but there was still a hint of summer in the air. 

“So, did you like, steal this car or something?” she asked, breaking the silence. 

“What?” Giles asked, looking at her briefly. 

She cracked open one eye and gave him a look. “I mean, it’s just…” she let the thought hang there unsaid. 

“Indicative of a mid-life crisis?” he offered, 

“Ya, pretty much,”

“Well it was, but 

“What’s going to happen? Ms Morrell told me a bit, but I’d like a more clear outline of my immediate future,” Marin had told her quite a bit, she sat in her office for almost an hour while she explained her new life to her and what to expect, but she still had a million questions as well as the general nervousness about change. 

Giles looked at her like she was a weirdo. 

“Wait, how do you know Morrell, is she a Slayer too?”

Giles shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “no, she’s not. She’s a doppelganger...the mirror image of Slayer. We met her other half many years ago, her name was Kendra; they grew up on other sides of the planet and never knew each other. Marin came looking for her mirror about a year ago and well, long story short, she now works with us,” 

“Fascinating,”

“It is actually, the Council long thought they were a myth, so it’s been wonderful to discover something new...or rather old actually, as the doppelganger can be traced back to ancient Samaria…” he caught himself, “you asked about yourself and what we do,” 

“Buffy is our leader, so to say, we have her and another full Slayer named Faith -”

“I thought there could only be one,” Lydia interrupted 

“Ah, technically yes. One thing about Buffy is that if there’s a mystical loophole, she’ll find it. She died when she was 17, two years into her career, she was resuscitated but that didn’t matter and the chain of succession was activated and the next Slayer was called. That was Kendra, Marin’s mirror actually,” he said, a rise in his voice indicating he was surprised his stories overlapped, “and then she was killed, which then called Faith,”

“I see,”  
“Anyways, myself, Buffy and Faith will train you in the major styles of fighting as well as how to improvise, how to think on your feet, about the rules of the world, the creatures you’ll come across and how to defeat them. We’re building a team of Potentials, we have 35 right now, from all over the world, and, as Marin told you, we’re building an army to defeat the First. We’ll teach you everything you need to know,” 

“Do I get to use a sword?” 

“Yes,”

“Can I throw knives?”

“Yes,”

“What about a mace?”

“Sure,”

“Magic?”

“Yes, if you have magic in you and can tap into the laylines,” 

“My friend Stiles is good with magic,”

“He should come for a visit, it never hurts to have more magic on your side,” 

“I get to kill things right? Like evil things,”

“Yes,”

“Cool,” Lydia might be able to adjust to this if she got to use weapons and actual hit things with them and maybe try some magic. 

Giles shook his head, “you’re certainly a Potential; all of you have a propensity for violence and weapons,”

She grinned. 

“We’re going a little out of our way, we have to pick up Buffy in LA,”

“What is she doing there?”

“We have friends who work in LA and they had a package for us,”

“Cryptic much,” Lydia said, rolling her eyes. 

They drove through LA, through the suburbs, through the financial district, through the downtown and then took some truly horrifying side roads to end up at a poorly lit corner of the city. Up until this moment, she’d been excited about this trip, enjoying it even, spending a lovely drive with a sexy older British man through a thriving metropolis. Now she was pretty sure she was going to get murdered and cut up into small pieces and never heard from again. She briefly thought of Stiles and Allison, she’d miss them the most. Maybe they’d come looking for her...and then they’d be murdered. Well maybe not Allison, she was pretty BAMF with her bow, but Stiles for sure would die. But then she’d have company in the afterlife, so maybe that wasn’t too bad. 

She was lost in her anxiety-inducing reverie that she barely noticed Giles turn off the car, wave at someone and then move to get out of the car. Lydia snapped her head to see three people...well she thought they were people; a beautiful young blond woman, a sexy as fuck man in black, and...a green...thing. That was new. She composed herself as she got out of the car, staring was _not_ something Lydia Martin did, it was so declasse. 

The group of three all waved at them - more at Giles, but Lydia saw both humans take note of her existence. The blond and the man continued talking but the green thing began to walk over to them. As he came closer, Lydia decided ‘man’ was probably a more polite and accurate term to use than ‘thing’; but maybe ‘she’, what the heck did Lydia know. However they chose to identify, they certainly had style; the yellow suit was practically electric. 

“Giles,” the green person greeted warmly, extending his hands and clasping Giles’, “lovely as always to see you,” 

“Lorne,” he replied, returning the smile. “This is Lydia Martin, one of our new Potentials, I just picked her up in Beacon Hills,” he introduced, turning to her. 

“Oh, how delightful,” he said, outstretching his hand towards her, “I’m Lorne,”

She grasped his hand and shook it, surprised at how unnaturally soft his skin was, it felt like silk in her palm and she had the oddest impulse wondering what it would feel like to have that skin touching her own, elsewhere; his green colouring would look so good against her alabaster and red. 

“How did that go?” Giles asked, nodding towards the man and woman.

Lorne did a sort of smile-grimace, “Oh you know, how it always goes,” 

The two men shared a sad laugh and Lydia knew she was missing something. She looked past Lorne at the two other people; they stood close together, their body language was a mess, both strained and intimate. Her body was stood in a defensive position, albeit a casual one, with her arms crossed across her chest. She looked powerful and, despite their size difference, Lydia had no trouble seeing who was the more powerful of the two. He stood casually too, but there was frustration in his body, as if he was holding himself back from something. They stood closer together, close enough to touch, but weren’t. She took a guess and figured they were lovers at one point. They made a good looking couple. 

“Trust me, Ms Lydia, _that_ is a very long story for another time,” Lorne said, interrupting her stare, indicating that the ‘that’ was the couple a few meters away. 

Lydia took the hint to let it drop and turned her gaze back to him, examining him more thoroughly; he had this chiseled-painted-on-drag-queen look to him that worked most exquisitely on him. Was he interested in women? Human women? She hoped so, because she was wickedly curious and wanted to lick all his spots. She was a lot sluttier than even she gave herself credit for. 

She must have been staring, because he interrupted her train of thought, “am I your first demon?” he asked, giving her a knowing smile and picking up her hand once more, “I assure you I’m very friendly,” he said, petting the back of her hand before releasing it with a wink. She vaguely wondered if he could read minds or something and had known what dirty things she was thinking. 

"Oh, yes sorry. I wasn't staring cause of that...once you've seen a man shift into a full wolf you're standards for weird really change," she said, rambling slightly. Lorne raised an eyebrow. 

"I was just wondering about the name,” she continued, trying to save face, “Lorne? You're green. Isn't that a bit...on the nose?"

Lorne gave a hearty laugh, the other two looked over from where they were still talking and Lydia grinned; glad she hadn’t offended him with the question. She had no idea what to do in a situation like this, he _was_ her first demon and hopefully in more ways than one. 

"You know, I actually worried about that when I picked out the name, but it's shocking how few people make the connection," he answered her. 

"What, like nobody watched the original BSG?" she tossed back saucily. 

"My thoughts exactly, though the remake was better,"

"Duh. Roslin." 

He went to reply, but the other two people started walking towards them, "I'd love to continue this discussion dear, I could talk popular culture all day, you have no idea how insufferable it is when no one around here watches tv" he gestured to the man in black, "but alas.” 

Lorne winked at her and she winked back. 

The man and woman came up to them and in the better light of the street, she could tell they were both more beautiful than she originally thought. What was this, some pretty people club? 

She noticed Giles’ posture stiffened at their approach, “Angel,” he said to the man in black, the coldest greeting Lydia had heard in a while. 

“Rupert,” the man, Angel, replied equally as cold, bowing his head slightly 

Lydia was instantly curious, she _needed_ to find out what that was about. She saw the woman roll her eyes at their intro. 

“Did you get what we need?” Giles asked Buffy

The blond woman grinned, “yup. And then some,” she lovingly patted the heavy duffel bag hanging off her shoulder. 

Lydia looked at the bag, trying to figure out what could be in there. It was the weirdest shape, weighted in the middle like it held a bowling ball, but also sharply pointing out in the corner. From her experience, there could be anything from a head in there or a weird weapon or just a fancy dress and shoes. 

“Oh, Lydia, this is Buffy and Angel,” he said introducing the man and woman, “this is Lydia, she’s our newest Potential,” 

“Hey,” Buffy said, smiling brightly at her

“Hi,” said Angel, giving her a well practiced smile meant to make her weak in her knees. If she wasn’t so practiced at giving the look herself, she may have been affected by it. 

“Giles give you the ‘one girl in all the world’ speech?” Buffy asked

“Yes,” she chuckled

“He loves doing that part, gets all dramatic about it. I swear his favourite thing about finding all these Potentials is that he keeps getting to say that speech over and over and over again” she said dramatically, grinning at Giles

Giles sighed, “yes, terribly witty.” he said, taking off his glasses and rubbing them clean with a pocket cloth.

“Well, welcome to Team Scoobies,” she said 

“Shouldn’t it be Team Buffy?” Lorne asked

Buffy laughed, “some think it’s too megalomaniacal to name your team after one’s self” she gave a pointed look at Angel

“It’s supposed to be poetic,” he said in a faux-pouty way. 

“Well quality poetry runs in the Aurelius line,” Giles said, voice dripping with sarcasm

Buffy turned to Lydia, “he named his agency Angel Investigations, after himself,” she explained at Lydia’s lost expression.

Lydia nodded, getting the jist of things. The bigger question being why anyone was named Angel, was he a stripper from the 80s? The dynamics of this group was really odd; Lorne seemed well liked by them all, but there was some strange undercurrent between the other three. She’d figure out what it was sooner or later. She did like how everyone deferred to Buffy - that she liked; she didn’t know much about Buffy yet, but any woman that commanded that type of respect and clearly, power, was a woman she could get behind. Or under. Whatever. 

“We really ought to be going,” Giles said

Buffy sighed, “probably, monsters to kill and stuff. New Potential to break in,” she teased. 

Lydia’s eyes went wide, not really sure what that meant, a little afraid of what she’d have to do. 

Giles cordially nodded at Angel and Lorne, bidding his goodbyes and he moved to get back in the driver's-seat of the car. Buffy pulled Angel back from the car slightly and pulled him down for a kiss. Yup, she was right about them. 

Lorne moved slightly, once again grabbing her hand, “I do hope we get the chance to meet again, Ms Lydia,” he kissed the back of her hand with a feather-light touch and Lydia felt shivers. He released her and she half expected to see a red lipstick mark from his lips, but there wasn’t, so either he was wearing the new Kat Von D line or that was his natural colouring. 

“I hope so as well, Mr Lorne,” she said, giving her own version of the ‘weak in the knees’ smile. 

“You can take the front,” Buffy said, interrupting them and giving Lorne some serious eyebrow-rise game. 

“You sure?” 

“Ya,” and she threw the dufflebag in, pushing it across the seat before climbing in after.

“What’s in the bag?” Lydia asked, retaking her seat in the front. 

“A few things actually. A medieval staff, a Gorgon head and a pair of shoes I had on order from Manellos,” 

“Ooo, Manellos, can I see them?” Lydia asked excitedly. Manellos was a damn good footwear company; expensive. 

Buffy nodded, opened the duffle and pulled out a standard shoe box and passed it to Lydia in the front seat. She opened the lid and gasped at the shoes inside. 

“Wow,” 

“Right!?” 

Lydia pulled out the left shoe, running her fingers lovingly over the leather sides. They were a solid matte black ankle boot with a heel, very sleek and stylish, but also practical. 

“They’re custom, the heel is made of wood and it’ll take a bit more force, but I can definitely stake a vamp with them,” she continued. 

“They are beautiful. And in my size…”

“Har har, don’t get ahead of yourself new girl, see if you can survive training and then we’ll talk about borrowing my boots...though I may take that sweater, it’s super cute,”

“Thanks, I could be the Team Buffy Stylist,”

“Some of the girls _have_ been joking about getting uniforms,” Buffy joked, 

“a uniform might be a little _too_ X-Men,” 

“it would be really funny though. You’d look good in a skintight X-Men uniform wouldn’t you Giles,” she turned to him

“You’d have to kill me first,” he replied tartly 

“I think you’d look good,” Lydia said, giving him the once-over. 

Giles rolled his eyes. 

"So tell me about yourself," Buffy said, changing the subject. She leaned forward so her head was resting on the seat partition. 

"Ummm, what do you want to know?" 

“Vamp nail polish?”

“ummm...over?” she answered tentatively. 

“James Spader?”

“Old, but still a fox and he should call me,” 

Buffy grinned at her and Lydia took it to mean she'd answered right. 

"Where are you from again? Bacon Heights?"

"Beacon Hill," 

She grinned again and Lydia wondered if she was always this upbeat. 

"You're in a good mood," Giles commented dryly. 

There was her answer, apparently not. 

"can't I just be Happy Buffy sometimes for no reason,"

Giles gave her a look in the rear view mirror. 

"Fiiiine, I'm just glad I've got the Gorgon head, I hope it works and we haven’t left it too long,”

“What do you want the head for?” Lydia asked, eyeing the bag.

“We’re going to reanimate it and help her recreate her body,”

Lydia wasn’t proud to admit it, but her mouth fell open, “isn’t a Gorgon like, super dangerous?”

“Yes, but only to misogynists. The Gorgons actually get a really bad rep, Medusa was a victim and was given the tools to protect herself against being hurt again and the writers of myth turned her into a villain,” Buffy explained. 

“Dear lord Buffy, have you been _listening_ during my lectures,” Giles said, his voice a mix of sarcasm and shock. 

Buffy gave him a glare, “anywho...the Gorgons are a super powerful people and they reached out to us, through our witch, and asked us to help them find one of their coven who was missing,” she pointed at the bag, “and we found her,” 

“Is there a … time limit or whatever on how long she can stay bodiless?” 

“Giles?” 

“They can last up to 300 years without a body, but obviously earlier the better,” he added. 

“Stheno here has only been on ice for about 100, so we’re still good, but I’d rather get her back home sooner rather than later,” 

Buffy sighed and Lydia realized she looked exhausted and she wondered how long she’d been up. 

"So, Beacon Hills...what's that like?" She said to Lydia, redirecting the conversation. 

Lydia took the out, "boring...except for all the werewolves. I know it's awful, but there was nothing to do ever until the werewolves came, really helped liven up the place," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Buffy laughed, "well that's pretty much Sunnydale. Except replace 'werewolf' with 'every hell beast ever'. Maybe we should have left you in LA; it's much more exciting...in the daytime at least," 

Lydia laughed, "more clothing options if nothing else" 

"Amen to that," 

Silence fell in the car, comfortable but Lydia felt the urge to say something. Considering she had absolutely no idea what she was heading in to, she might as well ask some questions. 

"So what's going to happen? Like to me?" 

Buffy sat up more alert in her seat, "well Giles explained all the basics right? Have you the Slayer 101?" 

Lydia nodded, as did Giles. 

"Cool. So what's going to happen is we're going to train you to be a Slayer. We're working on unlocking the magical lock so every girl who could be a slayer _will_ be a slayer."

"What will that entail?" She asked, realizing it sounded like a question someone would ask in an interview. 

"The spell or being a Slayer?"

"Both, either," she replied, genuinely curious. 

"Well I can't tell you too much about the magic; partly for secrecy and partly because I don't fully get it myself. Willow, she’s our witch, you’ll meet her tonight probably, she handles all that. As for the training, Giles told you what we do, but you’ll see for yourself as you’ll be starting tomorrow morning with the girls. You get tonight off, being new and all. And then Faith and I will let you raid the weapons cabinet, take you out patrolling, let you kill some stuff, and save the world. Sound good?” she asked, her eyes alight with expectant excitement. 

“Oh ya, sounds fucking awesome,” she replied, excited to get started. 

Buffy smiled back, “good,” and Lydia saw Giles smile too. 

A comfortable silence fell in the car as they drove out of the city and into the less populated areas of California, the air smelling cleaner, different, and Lydia felt the bubble of anticipation in her stomach begin to swell, feeling like this was _right_. She wanted to be part of Buffy’s team, to work for her, _with_ her, to make a difference in the world. To be a goddam badass. 

One last question came to her mind, “Um so, Lorne, the green one, is he into human women?” she asked Buffy

Buffy laughed a hearty laugh, “Lorne is into everything,” she said

“I can work with that,” Lydia said, determined.

**Author's Note:**

> I really loved writing this and I hope I did your original story proud and that you enjoy this. I'm probably going to write a bit more in a sequel, just because I had too many ideas to put into one story. I also didn't expect it to go the path it did...and nor did I expect all the Lydia/Lorne shipping but then I found it just happening and I decided I liked it hahah, I hope you do too. Also, it was unbeta'd (#reasons), so all errors are mine.


End file.
